I'm by no means a perfect rider, but I've got enough skill to be safe on the ground and in the saddle. I've never really felt taken advantage of until they told me what it would cost to half-lease the school horse. I felt like I have a good relationship with my trainer and that he would help me navigate some of this stuff, but my gut reaction was "Oh, god, he's in on it, too!"

I'm taking a lesson and talking leases with a new barn today. Hopefully that will help me to stiffen my resolve and help me to move on.Posted via Mobile Device

Reading this thread has me thinking I'm a pretty darn nice trainer/coach. I leased my Hanoverian mare to my favorite student this summer (she wanted to have something a bit more competitive for the hunter/jumper portion of her fair) I charged her a whopping $1 Her dollar bought her a very good fair week and a pretty purple reserve grand champion penant.

Life is like a camera. Focus on what's important, Capture the good times, Develop from the negatives and if things don't work out, Take another shot.

Personally, I think it's too much. Around here we can get leases for $100-$275 a month. Not including lessons or anything. I leased a barrel POA and all I had to pay for was her vaccinations (about $60) and hoof trims whenever she needed them. Plus they were already going to the shows so they'd just haul her right along with them for me. Where you live, how nice the facilities are and how nice of a horse it is all plays into it. So that may be normal for where you live.

Journey, Spirit and Goldie...Love is whenreality is better than your dreams!

Sadly, I know of several barns where board is $1000./month or more, but those are top show barns.

However, we're also talking about Northern NJ, which some pretty pricey real estate so I imagine board is pretty expensive there

So I guess my question for the OP is, what does board at this facility usually cost? I can see a half lease being more than half board, if it includes shoing and worming or other incidentals, but to justify a half lease fee of $500.; board should be in the $700 - 850. range. Is this schoolie wearing special shoes or on a lot of supplements? Getting injected with Adequan or Legend?

Before you irrevocably sever your relationship with this trainer and barn, I would at least ask some questions. If anyone's offended by you asking why the fee is what it is, well, then, you do need to sever the relationship, so no harm done.

But it's entirely possible that fee reasonably covers half or a little more than half of this horse's expenses. You won't know unless you ask.

These are all good questions. I will speak to the BO and ask him to break down the figure for me. Hopefully he's willing to work with me.

As far as I can tell the mare is just a regular school horse--not a difficult keeper or any special treatment. If she is, and I'm unaware of it, I will ask if they can match me to a different horse or work with me on the price.Posted via Mobile Device

I pay $250/month for board and $65/6 weeks for shoes for Dancer. I charge my leasee $150. She technically has set days but truthfully she can pretty much ride when she wants to.

Its funny that you should ask, Tiny, because it isn't working out that great. My leasee has a tendency to not pay on time and I have to ask her for the money. This time it was on the 13th of the month. And she hasn't ridden in over 2 months. Also, she doesn't know as much about horses and tack as I had thought and gave me grief when I told her that her saddle doesn't fit Dancer anymore and she can't use it. She actually got pissy with me. The problem is that we've become friends and I do really like her. I'm to the point where I need to ask her if she intends to keep leasing or do I find someone else? I'm afraid I won't be able to find another person as flexible (she was really great until around June.) I really need someone to help pay for Dancer and keep him in shape.

Its funny that you should ask, Tiny, because it isn't working out that great. My leasee has a tendency to not pay on time and I have to ask her for the money. This time it was on the 13th of the month. And she hasn't ridden in over 2 months. Also, she doesn't know as much about horses and tack as I had thought and gave me grief when I told her that her saddle doesn't fit Dancer anymore and she can't use it. She actually got pissy with me. The problem is that we've become friends and I do really like her. I'm to the point where I need to ask her if she intends to keep leasing or do I find someone else? I'm afraid I won't be able to find another person as flexible (she was really great until around June.) I really need someone to help pay for Dancer and keep him in shape.

Wish you were closer Puddin! I'd love to half lease a horse on those terms.

Register Now

In order to be able to post messages on the The Horse Forum forums, you must first register.

Already have a Horse Forum account?
Members are allowed only one account per person at the Horse Forum, so if you've made an account here in the past you'll need to continue using that account. Please do not create a new account or you may lose access to the Horse Forum. If you need help recovering your existing account, please Contact Us. We'll be glad to help!

New to the Horse Forum?Please choose a username you will be satisfied with using for the duration of your membership at the Horse Forum. We do not change members' usernames upon request because that would make it difficult for everyone to keep track of who is who on the forum. For that reason, please do not incorporate your horse's name into your username so that you are not stuck with a username related to a horse you may no longer have some day, or use any other username you may no longer identify with or care for in the future.

User Name:

Password

Please enter a password for your user account. Note that passwords are case-sensitive.

Password:

Confirm Password:

Email Address

Please enter a valid email address for yourself.

Email Address:

OR

Log-in

User Name

Password

Remember Me?

Human Verification

In order to verify that you are a human and not a spam bot, please enter the answer into the following box below based on the instructions contained in the graphic.

Old Thread Warning

This thread is more than 90 days old. When a thread is this old, it is often better to start a new thread rather than post to it. However, If you feel you have something of value to add to this particular thread, you can do so by checking the box below before submitting your post.I am aware that this is an old thread and I want to revive it rather than starting a new thread.